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Christ as He Is

—A Supreme Spiritual Executive

If we look for the Christ as He was two thousand years ago, we will fail to recognise Him.

by Mary Bailey

Printed in The Beacon November 1981 and May 1998

HE IS COMING TO ESTABLISH the principles and values, including the techniques, on which life must be based during the Aquarian age, and to encourage the present incipient trend towards right relationships—leading to peace on earth—due to unfold in the coming two thousand year cycle.

We are holding this seminar today because the reappearance of the Christ is "imminent", and much glamour, confusion and false claims are attached to the idea. If, in discussion and meditation today, we can cut through the glamour and the illusion surrounding the Christ and the Hierarchy and reveal the reality of the Christ "as he is" in His planetary service, we will let light into the whole situation and create a thoughtform more in keeping with the truth.

The reappearance of the Christ is "imminent" only in the time sense of the Hierarchy, which could mean decades or centuries to us, who have no real concept of the eternity registered by the celestial timeclock. In fact, however, the event is measurable in our terms as "the foreseeable future". But some of us can see no further than tomorrow or next year; while others occupy their minds and their creative attention with the new world of the twenty-first century; and still others with the 2,500 years of the Aquarian age. So the actual timing of the Christ's reappearance is still unknown to humanity, except that we do know the conditions that must prevail in the world before the Christ, under law, can reappear.

It has been said in Alice Bailey's book, The Reappearance of the Christ, that if we look for the Christ as He was two thousand years ago, we will fail to recognise Him when He reappears to continue His work in the Aquarian age. This gives us an invaluable clue; because, like ourselves and all other forms of life, the Christ is subject to the Laws of Evolution and, therefore, to inevitable change and development. It may seem to us that the already perfect cannot be improve. But perfection is relative; and even our planetary Logos, our God, is evolving at His own cosmic level and in relation to His responsibilities within the solar system and the universe.

Humanity has evolved in consciousness during the past two thousand years in obvious and extraordinary ways; the Christ, too, has evolved, and both He and His work during the period of His next incarnation—whether long or short—will reflect that change in consciousness. When He resumes His direct contact with human affairs, He will no longer be confined to one small area of the planet, or to the teaching function which seemed to be His main avenue of service in Palestine. His vision, His influence and His activities will be planetary, and will affect human thought and activity in all the main areas of human life; although He may well concentrate His major attention and energy in one or other of the specific avenues of daily living.

It is in this sense that we shall recognise the evolved state of the Christ consciousness in the modern world—by the potency of His world influence and the skill in action of His directed energies. We are asked "to see the Christ as he is" and, in the work of preparation for His reappearance, to reveal Him in His true role as the world server in Aquarius, wielding an influence through His disciples in all parts of the world and in all areas of life. For in this new planetary role, and at this dramatic turning point in history, He needs the cooperation of every enlightened mind and every loving heart everywhere.

There are today many who accept the basic idea of the Christ's reappearance as a potent influence in human consciousness, thereby affecting human behaviour and world affairs, but who place upon Him a limitation of their own minds by refusing to accept the possibility of an actual physical being—a human being, as we are. But we know that the Christ is both human and divine, the first member of the human race to reconcile that duality in Himself, and to become God/man in manifestation. Hence His unique role in planetary affairs. And we are definitely given to understand that the Christ's reappearance will include not only the mental and emotional planes by the stimulation of human minds and hearts, but also the physical plane. According to the Bailey books, it was humanity's own decision to fight out the world war (1914-1945) upon the physical plane, rather than on the mental level of ideas and ideologies, where it could have been contained, which determined the Christ's decision to include the physical plane in His sphere of Aquarian operations. We so often forget, do we not, how absolutely interconnected and interdependent all life is, and the extent to which our own thoughts and feelings and actions determine the outcome of larger planetary issues of which we may not even be aware.

The threefold method of the Christ's reappearance is put to us in these words (from the book The Rays and the Initiations, pp. 615-20):

First. He will reappear by an "overshadowing" and telepathic influence on the minds of prepared disciples and initiates. This will be His primary work on the mental plane and the most effective method for His "spiritual interference" in world affairs. Thus he will have outposts of His consciousness in every nation.

Second. By stimulating the Christ life, or consciousness, within the masses of humanity, leading to a reorientation of human desire; this involves the astral, or emotional, plane. As goodwill is released into the hearts of mankind, they become more disposed to create right human relationships—which is the major objective of the Christ's triple activity.

And third. By His physical appearance, so establishing a potent point of hierarchical energy on earth in a way not previously possible. The locale of this focal point is not yet determined; it depends upon the effects of the first two stages; it depends also upon the ÿmedium He will use to implement His new purpose—whether politics, religion, economics, the social sciences. The determining factor will be "the number, the ability, and the status of the disciples active in the chosen field".

So let us at least assume the possibility of a physical person, a Christ, working on the world stage to introduce the values, the guidelines and the modus operandi of the age of Aquarius.

This will mean a totally new development in human and planetary experience. There have been avatars in incarnation for brief periods at several times over the centuries. Hermes, Krishna, Buddha, and the Christ of two thousand years ago, are a few of those who have brought light and change into the world by manifesting an aspect of divinity during a world period of lawlessness and degeneration. But the Christ has now achieved a state of spiritual unfoldment which, for the first time, permits a Son of God to manifest all three aspects of the God-head simultaneously—light, the light of the creative intelligence unfolded in the past; love, the major influence and energy wielded by our planetary Logos for the unfoldment of manifested life in the ÿpresent; and power, the power of the will-to-good, motivating all logoic activity and infusing all human souls with the quality to be revealed in the future.

Christ's Keynote for the Coming Era

So today, in His planetary role as representative of "the Father", the Christ unites the past, the present and the future; the whole and the part; the One and the many; the subjective, spiritual life and its objective, concretised expression. The Christ embodies, therefore, the essence and the meaning of right relationship, and this is His keynote for the coming era, just as the theme of RELATIONSHIP is, inevitably, the controlling motive of our planetary Life, with Whom the Christ is identified and Whom He represents.

This presupposes a unique function within the whole planetary structure. The "office" of the Christ is a set and stable centre, the "heart of Love" within the Hierarchy, the planetary heart. Yet His function is as both "head" and "heart" of this centre, the great Ashram of Sanat Kumara. He establishes the alignment and the point of tension within the Hierarchy which provides the three aspects of the God-head focused in Shamballa, with receptive, responsive points of energy transmission. His esoteric relationship with all forms of life, and His identification with the living energy which animates those forms, has activated a permanent centre in Hierarchy and closed a gap in the planetary alignment, which only a spiritual executive of the stature of the Christ—God/man—could accomplish. This is His "office" in a spiritual and subjective sense.

It is an office (given the name of "Christ") just as the Chairman or President of a company is an office, held by different individuals at different times. The function of the focal point at the centre of each of the forty-nine ashrams within the Hierarchy—the Master—is also similar to the function of the various heads of departments in an organisation. All are points of energy reception and distribution within areas of accepted responsibility in relation to the work to be done.

What of the external work of the Christ among humanity; how does, or will, His divine manhood manifest; and how can we prepare to see the Christ "as He is"?

Inclusiveness of Spiritual Development

One of the outstanding characteristics of all spiritual development is its inclusiveness. Nothing of any value is left behind or discarded; everything of significance to the process of evolution is built into the consciousness, or the memory bank, while only the harmful, the unworthy and the unnecessary are discarded and left behind, having served their temporary purposes in the duality of human experience. This means that as an individual becomes more "spiritual", more attuned to the divine principle ensouling him, He also becomes more human, a more accurate example of what a redeemed and enlightened human being is meant to be.

In the Christ, spirit and matter converge and achieve their common identity. Therefore, as a perfected "Son of God", the Christ has also perfected His humanity and will be able to demonstrate before the eyes and ears of the world as He reappears what it means to be truly human. And this, I suggest, is the basic difference between the life and work of the Christ two thousand years ago and His life and work in the coming age. In Palestine for the Piscean era He needed to demonstrate His divinity and power; today there is no need for miracles or for the manifestation of powers mystifying to humanity. For Aquarian men and women He will demonstrate His perfected humanity in expressing the will and the purpose of deity, symbolising the ability of present-day mankind "to restore the Plan on earth". His coming will concern and affect all humanity and His field of service will include ÿworld affairs and global problems. It is said that the main focus of Christ's attention has yet to be determined—by Him; it will depend, not on what we, humanity, might consider to be the area of greatest human misery and need, but on the extent of the preparatory work undertaken in some vital aspect of human life, and on the numbers of prepared disciples available in that field.

Contrary to popular belief, the Christ is not coming to correct our mistakes and take care of the appalling results of our own separateness and willful selfishness. He is not returning as a great religious leader; the religions of the world are too divided and factionalised to accept the Christ's inclusiveness and love for all mankind. He is coming to establish the principles and values, including the techniques, on which life must be based during the Aquarian age, and to encourage the present incipient trend towards right relationship—leading to peace on earth—due to unfold in the coming two thousand year cycle.

Wherever these objectives can best be nurtured, the Christ will work. Obviously, therefore, He could emerge as a vital force in any field: in education; in government—legislative, judicial, or executive; in science; in business; in economics; in social affairs; in religion. He could be black, brown, olive, yellow or white; man or woman. We do not yet know. We know only that adequate preparation must be made for His coming work in all fields; a balance created, both in world relationships and affairs in economic and political matters and within the minds of human beings; some degree of world peace must be established as the demonstration of a "gained wisdom" in human relationship; and there must be sufficient numbers of trained, serving and dedicated disciples available to act as His cooperators and co-workers. Here is a true definition of the new group of world servers, who factually function today as the forerunners of the Christ.

He will not be publicly proclaimed as the Christ, either before or after His emergence on the world scene; and He, Himself, will not claim that distinction. He will work as an enlightened and capable individual of vision and purpose, and He will be recognised by His "own people".

The Christ will be preceded by certain members of the spiritual Hierarchy, members of some of the forty-nine ashrams, who will also help to complete the final preparations for His future work. This phase in the externalisation process, we are told, should be completed by about the year 2025; after that, we should be alert to recognise the Christ—wherever He may choose to reappear—by His work, by the world influence He wields, and by the radiatory and magnetic effect of this truly unique and extraordinary God/man, which will be seen and heard worldwide over radio and television, evoking recognition and response from perceptive minds and hearts.

This is the Christ "as He is", not as He was two thousand years ago. He is a world server, a world spiritual executive, involved in the complex affairs of our contemporary society in process of great change, undergoing the crises and tensions of a transformation in consciousness, which the Christ has also experienced in Himself. He returns as a representative of the great Life ensouling this planet, bringing with Him the Power, the Love and the Light of the God-head, expertly adjusted to human capacity to receive and use, and to the detailed complexities of life on earth as a human being.

The Christ is indeed a supreme spiritual executive. We would do well so to focus our innermost attention towards Him and His mission that our minds and hearts will come to know Him as He is, providing Him with the direct links into the contemporary scene which will guarantee the successful outcome of His planetary service in the years ahead. World reconstruction and world transformation depend upon the cooperative work of responsive men and women working with the Christ. We, too, can take our place in that group of "Christ's own people"; let recognition be the aim.

Finally, let the words of the Master Djwhal Khul strengthen our understanding of the inevitable working out of the law:

It is to the whole world that Christ comes and not just to the Christian world. He comes to the East and to the West, and has foreseen this "time of the end", with its planetary catastrophes, phenomenal disasters, despair and invocation—arising from both the East and the West. He knew that in the time of final crisis and tension, humanity itself would force His emergence (The Reappearance of the Christ, p. 100). We have now reached a point where the inevitability of Christ's return is established, scientifically and under law; this constitutes a call which He may not deny and which He must obey...When the hearts of men, the heart of the planet, the Hierarchy, and the heart of the Hierarchy, the Christ, are in a state of positive contact; when this channel is open and unobstructed, then the Christ will come. Nothing can stop His appearance. This alignment, when effectively concluded, will bring about a clear channel or pathway of return, a line of light or magnetic power, between:

The centre where the Will of God is known, Shamballa.

The Hierarchy, the planetary heart centre.

The Christ, the heart of love within the Hierarchy.

The initiates, disciples and aspirants who form the new group of world servers, seeking to embody the love and light needed in the world today.

The hearts of men and women of goodwill in all lands who are responsive to love as it can express itself through right human relations.

The focal point through which the Lord of Love will work on earth...[Thus] from the highest manifestation of deity, down to its appearance through the medium of some focal point in our modern world, a "structure of approach" and a "path of return" are being constructed which will bring the long awaited Christ into our midst. Nothing can stop or prevent His return (The Rays and the Initiations, pp. 619/20).

The Power of Love

How clearly that sixfold progression of divine love tells us what still remains to be accomplished through the power and the energy of love; we need more love between peoples, love between nations—a heart "open on the world"—love uniting the great planetary centres, Shamballa/Hierarchy/Humanity. For, with the direct impact of the Shamballa force into humanity during this century, the second aspect of the first ray of Will or Power (the Shamballa force) can be expressed on earth for the first time. The Christ, with the assistance of the Hierarchy, is the "distributing Aspect and directing Factor" for this potency—the power of the Will-to-Good—and it is this Power that will begin to manifest when He appears. This is the true reason for the Christ's intention to reappear; to manifest the power and the synthesis of the one Life. This will reveal a clear distinction between material living and spiritual living; it will become apparent through a widespread demonstration of human goodwill, the lowest expression of the second ray of Love/Wisdom, strengthened by the Will-to-Good of the first ray.

Much depends, therefore, on an understanding use of the power of love, as the Christ combines His esoteric planetary work with His esoteric world service.

We can cooperate in both aspects of the Christ's executive function in the coming years with understanding and commitment.

We know, O Lord of Life and Love about the need.Touch our hearts anew with love that we, too,may love and give.